Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) 2015: Online Feasibility Study

2 Methods

Overview

2.1 The feasibility methodology is summarised in figure 2.1 below.

Figure 2.1 Feasibility study methodology

2.2 All discussion guides and questionnaires were designed by Ipsos MORI and can be found in the Annex.

Headteachers' survey

2.3 A single page postal survey containing three questions was sent to all 419 secondary school headteachers in Scotland. The survey was kept short in order to minimise the burden on headteachers and to maximise the response rate. It covered: whether schools would be more or less likely to participate in SALSUS should the survey move online; whether schools had the technical capacity and capability to administer the survey online; and a space for comments or explanatory information. Fieldwork was conducted between October and November 2014. Completed surveys were received from 167 schools, giving a response rate of 40%.

Liaison teacher depth interviews and online survey

2.4 Depth interviews were conducted with 9 liaison teachers (from 9 different local authorities) who had assisted with the administration of SALSUS 2013. Interviews were conducted between 8 October and 13 November, and took around 20 minutes.

2.5 In addition to identifying important issues related to conducting online research in schools, the interviews fed in to the design of a quantitative survey sent to all 270 other liaison teachers who assisted with the administration of SALSUS in 2013. The survey was conducted between 5 and 26 November. Completed surveys were received from 88 liaison teachers, giving a response rate of 33%.

Interviews with Local Authority IT representatives

2.6 Emails were sent to the Directors of Education of all 32 local authorities, asking them to identify a local government officer who had responsibility for the IT arrangements in the authority's secondary schools. Follow-up telephone calls to the Directors' offices were made when necessary. The nominated individuals were invited to participate. A total of 29 interviews were conducted between 2 October and 17 November^[1], and took between 15 and 30 minutes. One individual was unable to participate in a telephone interview but provided responses to the questions by email. Clackmannanshire and Stirling have joint service provision, so one interview was conducted which covered the arrangements in schools across both authorities.

Desk research

2.7 A review of literature on previous computer-based surveys of school children was carried out, including research by Ipsos MORI, National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) and ScotXed. This was used to inform the design of research materials and provide context to the report.

2.8 In addition, a telephone interview was conducted with Kate Tobin from the Dartington Social Research Unit, who has been involved running several recent online studies in 5 Scottish local authorities with over 250 primary schools and over 45 secondary schools.

Research questions

2.9 While the main aim of the study was to identify whether or not it was feasible to conduct SALSUS 2015 online, it was also designed to inform whether or not a 2- or 3-way mode experiment was possible and worthwhile. In order to reach a conclusion, the processes/issues involved in moving online were broken down into a set of key questions (see Figure 2.2). The answers to these questions determined what, if any, mode experiment would be recommended.

Figure 2.2 Key questions in the online feasibility process